The Gatling gun is one of the two machine guns adopted in the land
service of the United States. Not to enter into a technical
description, but merely to convey a general idea of its working and
uses, it may be described as follows:

The gun is a cluster of rifle barrels, without stocks, arranged around
a rod, and parallel to it. Each barrel has its own lock or bolt, and
the whole cluster can be made to revolve by turning a crank. The bolts
are all covered in a brass case at the breech, and the machine is
loaded by means of a vertical groove in which cartridges are placed,
twenty at a time, and from which they fall into the receivers one at a
time. As the cluster of barrels revolves each one is fired at the
lowest point, and reloaded as it completes the revolution. The gun is
mounted on a wye-shaped trunnion; the lower end of the wye passes down
into a socket in the axle. The gun is pointed by a lever just as one
points a garden hose or sprinkler, with the advantage that the gun can
be clamped at any instant, and will then continue to sprinkle its
drops of death over the same row of plants until the clamps are
released. The axle is hollow and will hold about a thousand
cartridges. It is horizontal, and on its ends are heavy Archibald
wheels. There is also a heavy hollow trail, in which tools and
additional ammunition can be stored. The limber resembles that used by
the Artillery, and is capable of carrying about 9600 rounds of
cartridges. The whole gun, thus mounted, can be drawn by two mules,
and worked to good advantage by from six to eight men. It is built of
various calibers, and can fire from 300 to 900 shots per minute. The
guns used by the Gatling Gun Detachment, Fifth Army Corps, were built
by the Colt's Arms Co., were the latest improved model, long
ten-barrel gun, and fired the Krag-Jorgenson ammunition used by the
Regular Army.